Dog Owner Chat V. 5

[drift.]

i cant believe its been a year already :,)
Extra really is a beautiful dog though <3

[ChunkyChad]

Hi, I'm wondering if anyone here might have some ideas or suggestion to help with my dogs crying/whining. For context my dog is a senior (10+) german shepherd/husky/border collie mix and about 3 or 4 years ago she began whining a lot. She is on medication for arthritis and has been seen by a vet relatively recently and from what we can tell it's not pain related at all. She used to only do it occasionally, usually around feeding times or if she wanted to go outside which really wasn't problem but it has really gotten out of hand. Now she does it for nothing, sometimes it's because my cat (who can be a little mischievous but has never hissed or ever even tried to swat at her) is just looking at her, not even doing anything. Other times she cries cause she's hot in her bed and wants to get up but isn't willing too unless bribed with treats. At this point the only way to get her to stop is to just give in and either give her treats or take the cat away or bribe her to go outside, which I know is just encouraging her but when I try ignoring her she just keeps crying, she can go for well over an hour doing it, getting so loud I can't just ignore her and focus on something else and I don't feel comfortable just leaving her and going to another room in case she is crying for an actual reason. It's gotten really bad now, she regularly wakes me up multiple times from 12 - 5 am for nothing and she also interrupts my zoom lectures causing me to miss important information, and if I try to watch tv in the living room she cries over the show and it's at the point I don't want friends to come over to watch movies at my place cause we can't get more than 20min in before I have to stop the movie and spend 15+min trying to get her to stop (and this will occur repeatedly). Interestingly she doesn't do this outside at all or when she knows nobody is home so it's definitely connected to us. Also I don't want to have to resort to giving her treats, one cause it encourages her to do it but also cause of her arthritis she can't really go for walks or play anymore so gaining weight is a serious concern. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I honestly feel so defeated and it's really impacting my uni performance with the little sleep and missing lectures and stressing the relationships in my house. Plus like I said I worry about her health too and I can't imagine she's a very happy dog crying all the time, and it's really disheartening seeing her miserable all the time.


Additional context : Her whining is not like the "talking" huskies do, she never really has ever done that, and she never use to whine like this till like I said 3 - 4 years ago getting worse and the past 1 - 2 years with it being some of the worst it's been rn. She's had behavioral problems in the past like being dog reactive and being a heavy puller but we were able to work through that.

[ruin]

What kind of medication is she on for arthritis? Have you had a vet do a full check-up for her internally, and also for dental health?

What kind of mental stimulation are you giving her during the day? As in:
- Does she socialize with other dogs
- Are toys present
- any enrichment toys?
- I know you said she is getting old, but do you play fetch/tug/anything with her?

How often/how much do you feed her? What type of food are you feeding her, and have you considered any food allergies that might be making her uncomfortable?

Has she ever had concerns with separation anxiety, or anxiety in general?

[ChunkyChad]

What kind of medication is she on for arthritis? Have you had a vet do a full check-up for her internally, and also for dental health?

What kind of mental stimulation are you giving her during the day? As in:
- Does she socialize with other dogs
- Are toys present
- any enrichment toys?
- I know you said she is getting old, but do you play fetch/tug/anything with her?

How often/how much do you feed her? What type of food are you feeding her, and have you considered any food allergies that might be making her uncomfortable?

Has she ever had concerns with separation anxiety, or anxiety in general?

Thanks for the questions ^^ btw my dog name is Becky and rescue so we don't know her full background forgot to mention that lol

- she is on Gabapentin and Tramadol. She is unable to go in the car, we built her a ramp but we were unsuccessful at getting her to use it and to be honest I am not comfortable with picking her up as that is one of few thing she gets very upset and stressed at and I am concerned she would actually bite me if I tried. Because of this she has not had a full internal check but we've had a vet come to our house to check her out now. I don't think the vet however was able to get blood samples last time she was here though cause my dog was displaying concerning signs (whale eyeing and curling her lip) and the vet did not feel comfortable trying ( she was on calming/sedative medication for this appointment). However she was able to check her teeth and they seem fine.

- She does not socialize with other dogs, though she no longer reacts to dogs walking she doesn't get along with them very well at all (she has bit a dog in the past). However she loves cats and does generally like interacting with my cat (except when she gets upset about him looking at her randomly idk what thats about, thats a new thing, I think maybe her eye site is going?) and she also interacts with the neighborhood cats when they come into the backyard. My dogs arthritis is quite severe (she walks with one leg completely straight, putting no weight on it, and can't stand for very long) so she doesn't really play with toys at all anymore, we got her a food toy which she enjoys from time to time but it can be hard to get her to want to interact with anything non food related. As for fetch and tug of war again not really, we play soccer a little bit in summer but our backyard is covered with ice so and couple feet of snow so she can't really safely play there. She really likes being outside though, she spends hours outside and much prefers that to being inside usually, its windy were we live so I think she like getting the different scents blown in, or chasing magpies, but she mostly sleeps now, I think her medication makes her quite drowsy. We are thinking of getting her a wagon so she can get out more. I'd love if any suggestions for toys that she can play lying down, she really isn't about things involving moving anymore, but she is very food motivated and very intelligent so anything like that she would probably really like.

- We feed her 1 cup in the morning and another cup in the afternoon with her getting some throughout the day as treats and maybe like 1/5 a cup with her night pills. She has been having the same kibble for many years and didn't have any issues with it, we do have indigestion wet food for when she feel unwell and use probiotics with the kibble. She doesn't get any special dog treats except for her pill pockets which are the chicken greenies, she hasn't gotten any sandwich meat or anything for years. According to her vet she is slightly over weight but nothing to be concerned about.

- Separation anxiety no but other anxiety yes. Like I mentioned she has special medication for if the vet comes to calm her and as I've mentioned she can be a bit touch and go with things. She used to be quite anxious around other dogs and certain things liked being picked up or needles.

[ruin]

Ah, Gabapentin is a lifesaver, haha.

So it sounds like Becky has concerns with vet-type handling. I recommend starting to condition her to a basket muzzle and maybe some mild restraint (hugging, grabbing paws, etc) in SMALL approximations. introduce her to the muzzle in a very, very positive way. special high-value treats that she gets only when the muzzle is around her/on her. i wouldn't put it on her right away, but instead have it present (like in your hand) while feeding treats or her food (if she is very food driven).

once she's been introduced to it, you can start to slowly put it on her. not that this will likely take a while due to the other behaviors you have mentioned, but if she needs blood tests or needs to be restrained for any reason, basket muzzles are a very, very nice tool to have. they have saved me from many bites.

remember to listen to her cues and never push her beyond where she is comfortable, when introducing something that may make a dog uncomfy, you definitely want to make it as positive as possible.


when you say she has a food toy, do you mean like a Kong? Kongs are fantastic tools to cure some boredom and give enrichment. personally, what i like to do with them, is fill them half with dry food, half with wet food, and then freeze them overnight, so when it is given to the pup, it lasts much longer!

have you thought about teaching her the "Place" command? Place is great at giving dogs something to focus on, while also giving them their own space to be independent!
this could be used when people are coming over, or if she is whining, you can tell her to "go to place" to give her something to do. Place can be any bed, mat, blanket, or anything she likes to lay on.
since she is a GSD/husky mix, she may actually enjoy learning this command, since that breed mixture commonly needs near constant mental stimulation. it will also be pretty easy on her, since it won't require her to run/jump or do anything crazy. worth looking up! here is a good video explaining this command!


so she has a special medication, but do you only give it to her when the vet comes? may i ask which type of medication this is?
have you considered asking your vet on starting Becky on something like Fluoxetine, Clonidine, or CBD oil for her daily medication? :)
a lot of this sounds like mild anxiety to me, have you noticed any self-harming? is she gnawing at her paws, legs, tail?

[Siven]

Ah, Gabapentin is a lifesaver, haha.

So it sounds like Becky has concerns with vet-type handling. I recommend starting to condition her to a basket muzzle and maybe some mild restraint (hugging, grabbing paws, etc) in SMALL approximations. introduce her to the muzzle in a very, very positive way. special high-value treats that she gets only when the muzzle is around her/on her. i wouldn't put it on her right away, but instead have it present (like in your hand) while feeding treats or her food (if she is very food driven).

\

To add onto this, a good brand of muzzle is leerburg, they have some nice basket muzzles. And a good basket muzzle should have full pant room, a good way to ensure this is to hold a tennis ball in her mouth when measuring for size.

[alfiq]

hi everyone! anyone got any good tips on recall training with dogs with high drive and that are easily distracted? i recently got a 6 month old spanish galgo, and it's my first time working with a dog with such a high prey drive.

i'm in contact with a trainer thats coming later this week, but it'd be lovely to get some advice so i can work on it somewhat till then :)

[Siven]

hi everyone! anyone got any good tips on recall training with dogs with high drive and that are easily distracted? i recently got a 6 month old spanish galgo, and it's my first time working with a dog with such a high prey drive.

i'm in contact with a trainer thats coming later this week, but it'd be lovely to get some advice so i can work on it somewhat till then

Are you utilizing any tools such as an e-collar and/or long lead?

[alfiq]

hi everyone! anyone got any good tips on recall training with dogs with high drive and that are easily distracted? i recently got a 6 month old spanish galgo, and it's my first time working with a dog with such a high prey drive.

i'm in contact with a trainer thats coming later this week, but it'd be lovely to get some advice so i can work on it somewhat till then :)

Are you utilizing any tools such as an e-collar and/or long lead?

Using a long lead currently.

[Siven]

hi everyone! anyone got any good tips on recall training with dogs with high drive and that are easily distracted? i recently got a 6 month old spanish galgo, and it's my first time working with a dog with such a high prey drive.

i'm in contact with a trainer thats coming later this week, but it'd be lovely to get some advice so i can work on it somewhat till then

Are you utilizing any tools such as an e-collar and/or long lead?

Using a long lead currently.

E-collars can be great tools for distraction training, and since sighthounds tend to be more on the sensitive side I would lean towards using stimulation rather than vibration, as most sensitive dogs react negatively towards vibration.

I'm not sure if your trainer uses all four quadrants of training (positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment) so I'm going to make the assumption they're a R+ trainer to be safe.

A good way to practice recall on a long lead is taking them to a distracting environment (ie, a park with kids playing) and having them on the long lead. Let them get distracted, use your recall word (come!) and give a gentle tug on the leash. Make yourself the most exciting thing available, more exciting then the kids or whatever their focus is on.

If your trainer is a trainer who accesses all four quadrants, I would keep stimulation on a low setting (likely not more then 5, my dog works on a 10 however she isn't sensitive), use the recall word, and if the dog is too distracted one single stimulation should interrupt their focus and bring them back to you.

Another really good way to work on focus to help with recall is something we call the engage-disengage game!



It's great for both reactive dogs and dogs who are high prey drive and easily distracted as well, and can help emensely!